This invention relates to the dredging of submerged sedimentary material, and particularly to a system and apparatus for removing submerged sandwaves employing an eductor principle.
The technique of hydraulic dredging, using submerged jets of water to remove sandbars or cut channels in riverbeds, is well known as exemplified by Andrews U.S. Pat. No. 2,318,587, Baker U.S. Pat. No. 423,716, Huffer U.S. Pat. No. 260,200, and Cornelius et al. U.S. Pat. No. 284,387. Some dredging systems use mechanical action, as well as hydraulic action, as exemplified by Schaffer U.S. Pat. No. 486,957, Stone U.S. Pat. No. 296,483, Anderson U.S. Pat. No. 294,303 and Andersen U.S. Pat. No. 723,122. The dredging systems disclosed in Schaffer and Andrews employ an array of spaced-apart water jets. However, all of these devices suffer from the same limitations on their productivity, i.e. equipment and power limitations on the volumetric flow rate at which the water can be pumped through the jets, and the proportionality between rate of material removal and the flow rate of the pumped water.